


Auntie Jeanne Guards The Treasure

by Varewulf



Series: SE.RA.PH. At Peace [5]
Category: Fate/Extella, Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Auntie Jeanne, Fluff, Gen, Silly, let Nero fuck, yes I'm still doing that, young Altera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 18:03:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15539901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Varewulf/pseuds/Varewulf
Summary: Jeanne d'Arc accepts a very important mission: To guard the empire's greatest treasure.She is not quite prepared for what that entails.





	Auntie Jeanne Guards The Treasure

**Author's Note:**

> This started with a very simple idea: Jeanne d'Arc babysits young Altera. Then it got a little bit away from me. Still, I think it's a fun addition to the loosely titled "SE.RA.PH. at peace" series. Putting Altera and Mordred together could lead to some interesting things.
> 
> So I wonder whether I maybe got too silly, or too carried away, or made Altera too child-like, but I think the best thing is just to not worry about it.
> 
> And assuming I have a bit of steam left in this train of writing I've been doing, there is the setup for another story here, involving what Hakuno, Nero, and Tamamo are off doing while Jeanne has to look after things.

Ruler Jeanne d'Arc arrived in New Roma. She was responding to a summons by the Imperial family themselves. They had requested her for an important task: to guard the empire's greatest treasure. While she owed no loyalty to the empire or its rulers, she felt it was rude to ignore a personal request like that. So she had agreed to come.

The city was a lot livelier than last she had seen it. Larger too, by her estimate. Her role as guardian and Top Servant didn't really allow for much leisure time to do as she pleased, even if peace reigned for now. Not only were there a lot more NPCs around, but she could see wizards too. And even the occasional Servant she had not seen before on SE.RA.PH. It was pretty amazing how everyone seemed to have settled in.

However, she didn't have time for sightseeing right now. She made her way right for the palace. It was the most likely place to find any of the rulers. This empire was not quite like any she had ever seen or heard of, but then again, SE.RA.PH. was not quite like any other world either. New rules for new people, yet keeping the names of the past. But Jeanne had no more interest in governance now than she had had in life. So long as no injustice was being carried out, she would not interfere.

She had only ever been to the palace once before, and it hadn't exactly been in peaceful circumstances like this. So it hadn't truly hit her how grand it was, both in size, and in decor. But considering it had been designed by the Emperor of Roses herself, it did not surprise her. She could spot a few things that she suspected had been altered from the original design, as they didn't quite match their surroundings, but it was still mostly a clear Roman aesthetic.

The main hallway led straight to the throne room, where she found a lone figure sitting on the throne. It seemed a little strange that no one else was present. She would have expected some servants, at least. The person was examining some displays that floated in front of her. Jeanne recognised them as information screens provided by the Moon Cell, likely via the throne itself. She also recognised the figure sitting there.

Jeanne struck her banner spear against the floor. "Kishinami Hakuno," she called out. "I have come, per your summons."

Hakuno looked up, and past the screens in front of her. The frown on her face turned into an expression of genuine delight.

"Jeanne!" Hakuno got up from the throne, and came down the steps. "So good of you to come. I'm sorry to call you here like this, but I could think of no one better for the job." She offered her hand in greeting.

"Uh..." Jeanne was slightly taken aback by the casual tone, but she recovered quickly. "Please, do not worry about it," she said, and took Hakuno's hand.

Hakuno turned her head, and shouted towards the back of the room: "Altera, sweetie! Your auntie Jeanne is here!"

Jeanne blinked rapidly. "A-auntie?" She felt like she was already losing track of what was going on.

"See, I have something really important to attend to, and there's just no way I can leave either of those two behind. They wouldn't have it," Hakuno said, as if that was in any way explaining things. "Altera's been really looking forward to you coming ever since we told her."

"Um..."

Before Jeanne could think of a response, she heard a young girl's voice call out: "Auntie Jeanne!" Young Altera came running at full speed, and hugged onto Jeanne. "I've missed you!"

This wasn't the first time Jeanne had seen Altera's new form, but it had been a while, and only once. So she was not used to seeing it. It was weird to think that this once stoic, proud warrior now looked and acted like a child. And Jeanne couldn't help feeling a stab of guilt at hearing she'd been missed. She wasn't sure how much of the events of the war that Altera actually remembered, if any at all, so she hadn't considered that Altera might remember her. Now she felt bad about not making a point of visiting earlier, and regularly.

She placed a gentle hand on Altera's head. "It's good to see you, Altera."

"I really can't thank you enough for this," Hakuno said with great emphasis. "If all goes well, we should be back before the end of the day. If not..." The pause was a little ominous. "We'll probably be back tomorrow." She gently patted Altera's head as well, causing the little girl to smile wide at the attention.

Jeanne wanted to ask what they were doing, but wondered if maybe it was something Altera wasn't supposed to hear, considering Hakuno seemed to be dancing around it.

"Listen, if you have to leave before we get back, you can ask Medusa or Karna to step in, they should both be in the city," Hakuno said, as all three of them started walking towards the back exit of the room, where Altera had come from. "And if you need help finding anything, just ask Salter. I know she seems grumpy, but she's honestly a sweet and reliable girl underneath."

"Salter?" Jeanne inquired. She did not recognise that as either a name or a Servant type.

"Yeah, if she's not in the palace, you can typically find her by the fast food places downtown," Hakuno explained, completely missing (or ignoring) that Jeanne was wondering who that even was. "Altera's up for going along wherever, aren't you, sweetie?"

"Ye!" Altera chimed in.

"So you don't have to worry about leaving her behind for anything. Ah, Nero!" Hakuno called out to the easy to recognise Saber at the other end of the room they had just entered.

It wasn't escaping Jeanne's notice that Hakuno seemed to have largely dispensed with referring to Servants by their class. Though when you had more than one of the same type around, it probably got a bit confusing. But even if it made sense, it felt weird. Against the order of things.

Nero turned around, and saw them. "Praetor!" she called back in a delighted tone. "Greetings, Ruler." At least she seemed to be maintaining decorum. "Thank you ever so much for coming."

"You're welcome, Saber," Jeanne said. "I'm glad to see you well." They might have been on different sides in the most recent conflict, but Jeanne was happy with how things had turned out, and relieved that there remained no ill will between them.

"Umu! My greatness never diminishes!" Nero stated proudly.

That wasn't quite what Jeanne had meant, but apparently some things didn't change.

"Are you ready to go?" Hakuno asked Nero.

"Umu," Nero replied. "I was merely waiting for you, Praetor."

"And Tamamo?"

A slight frown appeared on Nero's face at the mention of Hakuno's other bonded Servant. "Umu... Caster said she would be waiting by the market. Apparently she had to acquire something for the journey."

Hakuno smiled. "Good. We had best be going, then." She crouched down. "Remember to be a good girl, Altera."

"Okay, mum," Altera said, and gave Hakuno a hug. "Bye-bye." Then she moved on to hug Nero, who had also crouched down to welcome it. "Bye-bye, mama."

"Umu!"

"Take care," Hakuno said, both to Altera and Jeanne. "We'll be back as soon as we can, and we'll discuss your compensation then, okay?"

Jeanne blinked. "That's really not necessary..." she said. In her mind this was a simple favour, an act of kindness.

"Nonsense! You are doing us a great service!" Nero insisted. "It is only right that you should be rewarded."

"Think it over until we come back," Hakuno said, and then off they went.

And so Jeanne was left alone with Altera, desperately wishing she had asked more questions while she had the chance. Not that she was sure what she should have asked in the first place. This was entirely new territory to her, and she didn't know if she was up to the task. But having accepted it, she had no choice but to give it her all.

She looked down at the empire's greatest treasure. "So it's just you and me now," she said. It wasn't really a question.

Altera looked up at Jeanne, and smiled sweetly. "Ye!"

While the girl had always had a sense of wonder about the world from the moment Jeanne got to know her old self, it had carried a sense of something she felt she could never have or be part of. This younger, reborn version seemed genuinely more cheerful, which warmed Jeanne's heart. The problem was that she had little experience in handling children, and she wasn't sure to what extent Altera was like a regular child now. Jeanne could still sense great power within her, but also a calm that had been missing before. But unfortunately her Ruler skills couldn't really guide her to the right course of action in this instance.

"Auntie Jeanne, can we do colouring books?" Altera asked politely.

"Huh?" Jeanne had gotten a little too lost in her own thoughts. "Oh, sure."

Altera beamed, and took Jeanne's hand to lead her towards another room. They entered what looked like a large playroom. It had probably not been that before, as it seemed like an unlikely include for a Roman palace, but it certainly fit the part now. Jeanne had to wonder how much of this Altera actually used, as some of it definitely seemed like it was meant for children younger than her. Perhaps it was a case of overeager parents spoiling their child with anything they could think of.

The table with the colouring books was off to the side of the room. Altera plopped right down, and picked up the one at the top of the stack. There was also a shelf on the wall nearby that had a fair number of books on it.

"What are those?" Jeanne asked.

Altera looked towards the shelf. "Oh, those are the ones we've finished," she answered quite casually.

"Really? All of them?" Jeanne was impressed.

"Ye! Mama and mother help me out, but if it's both of them at the same time, they get a bit competitive." Altera flipped open the book, quickly finding the spot she had left off. It looked like it contained animals. "Mum keeps telling them to calm down, because it's hard to find new books."

"I see..." Jeanne said. It certainly seemed to be a lively household. She couldn't really recall much about how her own childhood had been in life, but she hoped Altera was happy with her new chance at one.

"You can take one too, auntie Jeanne," Altera said.

Jeanne smiled a little. It wasn't really right to deny such an earnest suggestion, so she took off her gauntlets, and picked up a book. Famous Buildings, Issue 3. She wondered if the first two issues were up on the shelf. Curiosity compelled her to look a bit ahead to see if there was anything she recognised. A couple of pages in she found something called the Louvre, which was supposedly in Paris, though it certainly hadn't existed in _her_ time. Maybe all of this was too modern for her.

"So you do this a lot?" she asked.

"Well... sometimes," Altera answered. "I like them, they're pretty. Good civilisation. But we also do lessons, and go on trips. Oh, and mother teaches me cooking! Cooking is good civilisation! Though it isn't always tasty when I do it... that's bad civilisation, but I'm not allowed to destroy it."

"Right..." Jeanne wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Oh oh!" Altera carried on. "Since big brother arrived, we play games together! He doesn't like the colouring books, but we do other things!"

"You have a big brother?" Jeanne couldn't remember hearing anything like that.

"Ye! We play video games, and hide and seek, and and steppe warriors!" Altera seemed quite excited. There probably weren't a lot of playmates for her around here, so having gotten one had to be nice.

"Steppe warriors? What's that?" Jeanne hadn't heard of that game.

"We ride horses, and fight with our swords! Though... mum says we're not allowed to ride horses inside, so then it's just sword-fighting... but sometimes we go outside, and get to have horses!"

Jeanne wasn't sure if she understood that correctly. "You... what?" Maybe it wasn't what it sounded like, but Altera was still technically a Saber, so she couldn't help being a little worried.

Before anything else could be said, someone came into the room. "Altera, you in here?" said a voice Jeanne both did and did not recognise.

She turned towards the voice, and saw what looked like a teenager in denim shorts, a white top, and a red jacket. Her True Name Discernment skill kicked in automatically, giving her all the information on who had just entered the room.

"Mordred..." In a sense they had met before, or were going to meet in the future. The rules for Servants didn't always obey time and space as one might expect. In a different time, in a different place, perhaps even a different reality, the two had been summoned to the same place, in the same Grail War. But the details were elusive, like trying to read a newspaper by only looking at the headlines. While she knew that new Servants would on rare occasions appear out in the Wastes, she hadn't been aware he was one of them.

"Ruler..." The same sort of recognition showed on Mordred's face, and he was clearly struck with indecision as to what to do.

The tension was quickly broken by Altera. "Big brother!" she called out, and ran over to Mordred to hug him.

Jeanne was stunned for a moment. "This is your big brother?" she had to ask.

"Ye! I like Morderd," Altera said.

"Mordred," he corrected her.

"Mord...ed?" Altera tried.

Mordred sighed. "I can't tell if you're doing it on purpose or not..."

Altera giggled. "Big brother is easier!"

"Sure sure, whatever you say," Mordred said, and patted Altera on the head. He looked over at Jeanne again. "I guess you're busy?"

"We're colouring!" Altera said, finally letting go of Mordred, and trotting back towards the table.

"Yeah, we're..." Something clicked into place in Jeanne's mind. "Wait... _he's_ the one you sword-fight, Altera?"

"Ye!"

"Uh..." Mordred took a step back as Jeanne stared hard at him. "W-we have permission! Both Hakuno and father said it's okay!" he said defensively. "A-and it's not like we go all out or anything!"

"Father? Saber is here?" Jeanne asked. Then realised a moment later that she was already in the room with two Sabers. "Um, Artoria is here?" she specified. It was starting to make more sense to her why Hakuno had just given up on the idea of calling Servants by classes.

"Well, father is, but dad isn't. They don't get along well," Mordred very helpfully explained.

"I see..." Honestly, Jeanne didn't see, but this was all starting to give her a headache, and she didn't want to delve any deeper into it.

"Did you come to play steppe warriors?" Altera asked.

"It's knights," Mordred said.

"No, it's steppe warriors," Altera insisted.

"Knights."

"Steppe warriors!"

They grumbled at each other.

"Whatever," Mordred said. "No, father told me to go get takeout, and I was gonna ask if you wanted to come along."

There was a small gasp from Altera. "Can I have a burger?" she asked, in a strangely reverent tone.

"Sure," Mordred replied.

Altera looked at Jeanne with sparkling eyes. "Can I go, auntie Jeanne?" she asked very politely.

"Uh..." Jeanne felt like she should probably go along with them, but if Artoria trusted Mordred enough to let him go on his own, then it was probably safe. And she had a skill that would let her find them, should it come to that. "Okay, but don't take too long."

"Yay!" Altera gave Jeanne a quick hug, before hurrying over to Mordred.

"Anything you would like, auntie Jeanne?" Mordred asked, with a sly grin on his face. Clearly the nickname amused him.

Jeanne refused to let him get a rise out of her. And while she was aware of the concept of 'takeout', she didn't know what sort of food could be acquired that way. "No, I'll be fine," she said, dodging the issue.

"Alright. We'll be back soon," Mordred said. He seemed a little disappointed that he hadn't gotten a reaction, but at least he let it go.

Altera took Mordred's hand much like she had taken Jeanne's earlier, and practically dragged him along. Clearly very eager at the prospect of getting to go get food, and this clearly very important burger.

Once the door closed behind them, Jeanne let out a sigh. She realised she hadn't been the least bit prepared for what this task would entail.

She got up from the table, and stretched. She wasn't really used to sitting like that, either. Maybe she should take the opportunity to familiarise herself a little with the palace. It couldn't hurt to know the layout a little better. Finding a place to take off the armour might not be the worst idea either. It didn't seem like she would need it here, so it might be nice to walk around in something more comfortable for once.

As she wandered the hallways, and peeked into various rooms, she got to a point where she couldn't help herself any longer. She used her scanning skill to check the location of Mordred and Altera, just in case. They were still in town, at least. Though she also detected another signature in the palace itself. Though initially confused, she remembered that Mordred had said Artoria was here. That had to be who it was, though the signature felt a little... strange. Regardless she headed in that direction to say hi. They were both guardians, even if their roles were slightly different, so they were somewhat familiar with each other. However, she did not find who she expected.

Walking down the hallway Jeanne had just turned into was a woman with ashen skin, yellow eyes, and wearing a black dress.

"Ah, Ruler. They told me you'd be coming," the woman said, her voice sounding more bored than anything else.

Jeanne's skill kicked in again, and Mordred's words finally made sense. This was indeed Artoria Pendragon, but not the one she had thought it would be. That she had missed Mordred arriving was one thing, but to overlook someone of this level made her feel negligent in her duties.

"Saber..." she said, unable to hide the surprise from her voice.

Artoria stopped. "What? Do you have some problem?" she asked. A slight sense of hostility radiated from her, but it didn't feel like it was directed towards Jeanne. Perhaps it was just her default state of being.

"No, I was just a bit surprised. I apologise," Jeanne said.

Artoria gave Jeanne a casual glare. "Listen, just so we're clear. I have been asked to aid you by answering any questions you might have, and I will honour that," she said. "Your prowess is worthy of respect. However, I will not assist with the babysitting itself. I have more than enough with the child I picked up."

Jeanne found herself nodding. "Understood." There was something about Artoria's voice that you made feel like you should listen and obey.

"So, do you have any questions?" Artoria asked. Though it sounded more like she was demanding to know, rather than being friendly or polite.

"Not at the moment," Jeanne said. It was hard to come up with something on the spot.

"Good," Artoria said, and resumed walking in the direction she'd been heading.

Jeanne turned to watch her go. She really hadn't expected Saber Alter Artoria Pendragon to be here. _Wait... Saber... Alter_... Something clicked into place in Jeanne's mind again. "Salter!" she said out loud, as if she just had a eureka moment.

Artoria froze, and slowly turned around. The glare was intense. " **Do. Not. Call. Me. That.** " Her hostility was definitely directed towards Jeanne now.

"M-my apologies," Jeanne said quickly. She hadn't meant to say that out loud, certainly not so Artoria could hear. For a moment she worried that she might have to draw her sword, and fight for her life, but Artoria's glare stopped as she turned back around.

"I swear I'll find some way to make Kishinami pay..." Artoria grumbled as she walked away.

Jeanne let out the breath she'd been holding. She had a feeling she had just caused trouble for Hakuno. It might be best to try to think of some way she could help, even if it was risky.

The fact that Artoria's Alter was here at all made her feel a little uneasy, though. As she continued her exploration of the palace, she couldn't help worrying about who else might show up.


End file.
